I’m back! I’m now more or less settled in Berlin so I should be able to resume normal updating duties, starting with the August calendar from Celina, who was also kind enough to pick me up from the train station.

Well, we have finally reached a small victory for the Natalie Portman movie that may have never seen the light of day (or in this case the hot Western sun at high noon) Jane Got A Gun. For a very long time now, it has suffered plaguing setbacks (such as a director switch), but the biggest problem as of late was the distribution company Relativity’s own financial combustions getting in the way of this film’s release. It was due to be released in September, only to be left out in the cold without much promotion. Sure, it’s hard to take care of a film when a company’s future is at stake.

That’s why Relativity has let JGAG go, and the film is now finally free. Relativity’s films face the potential risk of being frozen along with the borderline inevitable bankruptcy Ryan Kavanaugh and his company will likely file for. David Boies fought for JGAG to be separated from Relativity, as he has been the principal financer for the product.(more…)

Natalie was spotted doing some sightseeing at St. Peter’s Basilica, the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museums with Benjamin, his brother, and Aleph (clearly pictured) in Vatican City earlier this week. Hit the preview to view the new set of candid photos.

So this could be it. We have posted the constant struggle with Relativity’s financial state and its relation to the Natalie Portman Western Jane Got A Gun a number of times here. In fact, most of what I have covered here as a new writer is how Ryan Kavanaugh and crew have been battling the media and their debts. It appears that I may be covering new content in the near future, and it isn’t because these debts are going away.

Before I get to a couple Natalie news items, I wanted to say goodbye for a few days. As mentioned previously, I will be spending three months in Berlin and the journey begins on Monday, with a brief stint in Munich, before finally settling into Berlin on the 30th. Have no fear, Rachel and Andreas will keep the Natalie content coming.

– The Natalie hosted John Williams tribute on PBS came and went. Did anyone watch it? So far all we have is a brief glimpse of Natalie from this promo video. Thanks to Belerofonte.

– Cherryvanilla has heard that Natalie’s Ellen von Unwerth shoot will manifest in a cover appearance in September’s Marie Claire UK. We should be seeing that any day now.

– And finally, here is a piece about Natalie’s Italian vacation, which took her from Florence to Cortona.

It’s some ways off but at least we know when we will finally get to see Knight of Cups. Andreas had the “video” distribution scoop earlier and now the film finally has a release date of March 4th, almost a year after it’s Berlinale debut. Let’s hope the film proves to be worth the wait.

Finally, let us have some good news attached to a Natalie Portman project! Broad Green Pictures, a fresh company started by brothers Gabriel and Daniek Hammond, have struck a deal with Universal Pictures Home Entertainment to release their titles for home distribution. This young company has set a bar to release about sixteen films each year; this includes theatrical releases and video on demand. Either way, Universal has granted Broad Green the luxury of having their home distribution handled instead of Broad Green having to expand and take on that challenge themselves.

There are many films to be included with this new deal, and one is the polarizing Terrence Malick film (then again, aren’t they all?) Knight of Cups. The movie stars Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett and Natalie Portman. It got a mixed reaction at its debut in Berlin, but it sounds like we will be able to make our own deductions very soon with this great news.

More info and attached films can be found here. Thanks to Belerofonte as per usual!

Natalie looks to be vacationing in Italy with Benjamin and Aleph (pictured), as they were spotted dining out and at an airport (not sure which came first) in Florence. Hit the thumbnails to view two new sets of candid photos in the gallery.

Natalie will soon be in front of the camera again for Rebecca Zlotowski’s “Les soeurs Barlow” (The Barlow Sisters), which was previously titled Planetarium…is it just me or do the names of Natalie’s films change a hell of a lot more than most? This is Natalie’s first French film and is co-starring Lily Rose Depp, who plays Natalie’s younger sister. Allocine has the full synopsis, which sounds tantalizingly strange.

Laura (Natalie Portman) and Kate Barlow (Lily Rose Depp) are two young sisters spiritualists who end their European tour in Paris in the late 30. After running, face the rivalry of new practices, they face Andre Korben , a powerful movie producer. As visionary as disputed is who redeemed the greatest French film studio, and is based on American techniques by which his company does not sink completely into crisis. To test his skepticism, and playfulness, Korben is a private meeting with the girls: it’s a total shock to him. Upset, he offers them a contract year home for ambitious experiments … He says that cinema must innovate to survive and surprise: it can make the first authentic film ghosts. But Laura does not take long to understand that Korben has more secret reasons for having hired. Together they end up forming a strange family links to more troubles …

– The Playlist published a retrospective of Wong Kar-Wai’s films, which of course includes the much maligned My Blueberry Nights. I actually wouldn’t mind seeing this film again as I have a rather vague memory of it at this point. The Playlist were fairly kind, although they did not enjoy what Natalie brought to her role.

But the miscast Natalie Portman never convinces as a sassy, free-spirited (and crucial third-act) gambler in Nevada who helps Elizabeth find her way spiritually.

– Novelist Brice Wagner on acting in a party scene for Malick’s Knight of Cups at the 1:13:00 mark on the Bret Easton Ellis podcast. A really fun listen that is worth checking out.

You’re just in time for this week’s edition of The Kavanaugh hour! In this week’s episode, Relativity has a new financial plan yet again, Kavanaugh has finally spoken to the public outright and Jane Got a Gun has still yet to be Jane Got Finally Released.

The Toronto based Catalyst Capital, of which decided to take on Relativity’s huge debts, has now been bought out by Anchorage Capital (a New York firm), and are now in charge of the bulk of Relativity’s relatively large senior debts. Relativity are still in hot water, with many films’ futures uncertain (Jane Got A Gun, for instance), and without many things to say to the public, we weren’t sure what CEO Ryan Kavanaugh was intending for the future. Well, he has finally spoken to the public (a few times within a short period, in fact), and he has tried to set the story straight. Here is a bit of what he had to say:

A few weeks back we learned that Natalie was being consider for Alex Garland’s upcoming sci-fi, Annihilation. Anyone that has seen his new film, Ex Machina, will be positively frothing at the mouth at the potential. We don’t know about Natalie but Alex has been doing the media rounds and dropping some interesting blurbs about the project. Here are a few choice samples:

“If we manage to get that going, it would be shooting in, I think, April of next year. So we’d go in to prep in January and shoot in April.”

..

[Annhilation] is not tightly adhering to the beats of the novel in the same way,” said Garland. “It’s a looser adaptation,” although “the basic precepts” are still there. “

…

It’s in the sort of darker, stranger, propulsive space. It’s more like Dredd and 28 Days Later. Never Let Me Go and Ex Machina basically are reflective, quiet, talky movies, and this has some of the same sort of propulsion, I’d say, of 28 Days and some of the hallucinogenic aspects of Dredd, but they’re way more ramped up. Way, way more ramped up.

Not much to post but for those fans that sleep better at night knowing where in the world Natalie is, it looks like she was spotted at Palais Royal today, although nobody but this tweeter noticed who she was. Thanks to Melody for the find.

As we patiently wait for some festival and release news for Terrence Malick’s Knight of Cups, along with a trailer for Weightless (or whatever it will be called next), I have a few smaller news items courtesy of One Big Soul.

– The news that might actually lead to more news, in the form of reviews, is that Knight of Cups will be playing at the Jerusalem Film Festival on the 15th and 16th.

– Next up are some thoughts from Cate Blanchett, who is also in both of the Malick films. This is what she had to say about her experience of the man.

This is a director who has a particular universe. The experience was brief and mysterious, completely rooted in the present moment, a life in suspension, as he described it. After the end of the film remains a mystery and the story is very allusive. And then you have to adjust to the idea of ​​not having any certainty to be in the final cut.

– With a more negative take on the Malick method, here is Kevin Corrigan’s experience.

I worked with Terrence Malick on a film two years ago, and it’s Terrence Malick! He was trying to reinvent the wheel right in the middle of take and it was a little frustrating. He’s kind of whimsical that way. The guy’s a legend, he can do whatever he wants and he does seem to do whatever he wants. Things aren’t nailed down at all. The movie is truly like this living thing, you don’t know where it’s going to go or what’s going to happen. That can be kind of frustrating when you’ve spent all night memorizing lines and then the lines end up not mattering all that much. I like for there to be form. I like for there to be organization.

A big thanks to Osemar for a new Natalie drawing. Hope to get a lot more fanart before the end of the year – last year was truly one of the best years for fanart, but this year has been a bit ‘meh’ in terms of quantity.

We have had a blast of news about Ryan Kavanaugh and his company Relativity’s financial woes. We knew the Natalie Portman western Jane Got A Gun was somehow going to be affected by Relativity’s uncertain circumstances. It appears that the Toronto based Catalyst Capital Group may not have officially signed on to help Relativity and that the news was merely a supposed report. With that in mind, who knows how much steadier things will be with Relativity and its staff.

It also doesn’t help that Kavanaugh and co. have missed their deadline. Investors gave Relativity an extension deadline for the company to get its act together. That time has just passed, and other investors are becoming weary of these repeating cycles with Kavanaugh. Reportedly, a wealthy investor even considered helping Relativity out just recently, only to jump ship after seeing the history of the company in depth. With Catalyst Capital Group’s uncertain deal and now this, Relativity is once again in a tight spot.